​Asher’s a reluctant driver. When it was time to drive three vehicles (a moving truck and two cars) 865 miles from Petaluma to Spokane, we needed -- not too surprisingly -- three drivers. Math.
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Even though Asher had been driving for a while, she had zero interest in a freeway road trp.  Kimber and I tried to figure out ways to get around it. We knew we’d be in the Bay Area again.  Maybe we could leave a car somewhere and just come back for it at some point?  Maybe someone we know would want to drive up and visit?  We’d rented the largest moving van in existence, so we weren’t exactly comfortable reaching 18-wheeler status by towing a car behind it.
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After much discussion, deliberation, and negotiation, Asher agreed she’d be okay driving if we didn’t “power drive” the two days we had originally scheduled. AND if she could stay right behind me and I could talk her through merging on the freeway. So, we planned out our 4-day road trip with solid hands-free phone communication. 

​Day 1: Petaluma to Redding, with lots of rest stops and a missing cat. Motel 6 is one of the few motels that take pets.  It’s a great deal. It doesn’t cost anything extra to have a pet and you don’t really have to worry about the pets ruining anything in the room, because…Motel 6.  What we didn’t realize we’d need to worry about was losing one of our pets.  Asher’s cat Curly is very much an indoor cat. So imagine our surprise when we came back from packing up the car to find her missing.  After scouring the small room, we checked under nearby bushes and cars. No Curly.  This was definitely looking like a tragic curveball. 
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After much more thorough searching, we found her under the bed. Not, just your average kind of under the bed. But climbed up in a hole in the box spring, only visible by a small gravity induced lump, kind of under the bed. After lots of furniture moving and cat wrangling, we were on the road again.

​​Day 2: Redding to Eugene, with fewer rest stops and a horse. Chayse, or older daughter, lives in Eugene, so this was much more of a fun destination.  We got to meet her new horse, Glitter.

Day 3: Asher’s getting the hang of this road trip thing.  She declares that maybe we could do the whole drive to Spokane from Eugene…if we take our time and make lots of stops. 

We send Kimber ahead with the moving truck while Asher and I stop frequently.  We were on track for a 10p arrival to a city Asher had yet to ever visit in person.

Asher’s an adventurous kid. When we talked about moving to a new city / school for her senior year of high school, we gave her a choice – we could stay for her last year in Petaluma, or get an early start.  She chose to move. Her best friends had all just graduated (the downside of making older friends), she’s always wanted to live in a more urban setting, and loves rain and snow. So…city living with “bad” weather.  Sold!

On that third day driving stretch, I could tell that Asher was getting tired of driving.  About 60 miles out on I-90, we started a phone conversation to keep us both alert and entertained.  About 30 miles outside of the Spokane, I confirm that we’re getting close. I hear some concern in her voice as she says, “I thought we were moving to a city?”

I laugh and say, yes, it’s city.

Then where is everyone?  There are no buildings.

Well, unlike San Francisco or Seattle, it’s a city in the middle of a lot of farm land. 

Hmmmmmmm. She’s clearly thinking we tricked her into moving to the middle of nowhere.

And, suddenly there it was. We were in the city where the conversation turned quickly to: 

Wait. Mom.  This is an actual city, city.  I can’t drive in the city….

Anyway, after a very long day of driving and reassurance, we pull into the driveway of our new home.  We’re very excited to show Asher the house and her new (much larger) bedroom. 

Kimber and I start giving the short tour (it’s not a very big house): kitchen, living room, master, guest, and bathroom.  Now, to the basement where her bedroom is!  We head down the stairs and there it is.

Mold. Everywhere. 

We open the door into Asher’s room and step onto the carpet.  The squishy, soaked carpet. 

The entire basement clearly had been flooded at some point between when Kimber and I had visited in April and that long day of driving in June.
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So, 10:30pm, we pack the animals and ourselves back into our cars and head to the local Motel 6.  Welcome to Spokane, Asher! 

I have a lot to unpack.  Literally and figuratively. 

We moved from Petaluma, California in June to Spokane, Washington.  Considering our youngest, Asher, is a senior in high school this year, it was a big move and some might say weird timing.
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But it was a long time coming. And mostly well thought out. 

Like a lot of people of a *certain* age, Kimber and I have been fantasizing about what retirement could look like.  We’ve been long-time subscribers of a magazine called International Living. It features article upon article of great places people retire to with all these promises of really cheap, yet idyllic lifestyles.  We’ve always been up for the latest adventure. Local or abroad, all-inclusive resorts or backpack camping, we’ve had fun doing it all.  We pictured ourselves finding a cute little house in a small village in Ireland where Kimber (at 6’4”) would probably have to duck to get through the door – but would happily spend his days challenging the locals to a bout of darts while I sat by a cozy fire reading a really large stack of books.  Or moving to a Latin American city close to the equator where the temperature is a perfect 78* year round. Immersing ourselves in the language and culture, and making friends with locals.  Or even small living in our condo within walking distance of “everything” in Seattle.

And that’s how we ended up in Spokane.  Hahahaha.

Actually, whenever we talked about these great adventures, it was usually at least a couple of years away. And definitely (or at least realistically) after we were empty nesters. 

Kimber spent over 10 years at a unique media technology company that was started by a group of irreverent, rag tag friends (a few of whom actually produced and performed in a traveling circus).  If I could sum up the company in a yearbook category, they would’ve been “most likely to get drunk, set something on fire…and still succeed.” They did amazing and high profile work all over the world.  And then, for some inexplicable reason, they decided they needed to grow up and sold the company to a huge entertainment company.  The Corporation (big C) expected the culture to change from a fun-loving group of friends, to button-down corporate - overnight.  It was painful to watch. 

In early January, Kimber got word that his department was closing down.  The upside? A severance package that effectively pushed up our “someday” to “how about now?”

However, our original plan didn’t exactly align with reality. We still had two cats, two dogs, and a teen.  And our plan didn’t include keeping a house that was made for a family of six in an expensive part of the country. (Which meant cleaning out a large house that we raised four kids in over the course of 20 years).

So why Spokane? (most people ask incredulously).  We had 6 “simple” criteria:

1. Affordable.  California is hella expensive, especially in the Bay Area, and while we loved living there, we were willing to give it up for the lure of retirement. Spokane definitely met that requirement. Houses here are a fraction of what they go for in the Bay Area.
2. Blue.  We didn’t want to live in a place that passes stupid bathroom bills or supports straight pride parades. Spokane isn’t the progressive bubble we’re used to, and is still trying to shake the effects of its proximity to the now defunct Aryan Nation headquarters, but we’ve found it to be a very welcoming and inclusive community.
3. Outdoorsy.  I’m a PNW girl through and through. I love snow-capped mountains, evergreen trees, and all the outdoorsy activities that go along with it.  At one point in our discussions, Kimber said something like, “shouldn’t we be retiring somewhere warm?”  But he was sold on the easy access to skiing, a multi-use trail that meanders alongside the river, which also runs through the gorgeous and invigorated downtown, warm summer nights, and the promise of extended trips during the more frigid months.
4. Urban. We love being able to leave our car in the driveway and walk or ride our bikes for our wants and needs. We also love having hundreds of happy hour and brunch options to choose from, plenty of nightlife, music, and sporting events.  Spokane invented Hoopfest and apparently Father’s Day.
5. Natural Disaster Proof-ish. We wanted to “diversify” our real estate investments to have a property that won’t be reduced to rubble or taken out by a tsunami when the “big one” hits. 

If you don’t know Spokane.  Look it up.  They (we!) have amazing propaganda. (Like the bumper stickers that we see around town that claim “Spokane doesn’t suck”). Luckily, it lives up to the hype. What we didn’t put on our list of criteria but have been pleasantly surprised about: the people here are genuinely and almost aggressively nice.
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And our senior in high school?  Asher’s on fire. She just got a student of the month award at her new school and applied for very early admission and has been accepted into Washington State University.